Michael spent months talking to gurus from all over the world. People like Brian Tracy, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Brown, to name a few. From these conversations he distilled what he calls 8 Secrets of How To Be Achieve Success in Life. These were secrets, or principles, that all of these gurus agreed upon. In other words, they all had these in common as advice they would give to their students and audience.

These secrets are still good today. I’ve seen them work in my personal and professional career. I’ve also seen them work for others. They aren’t some magic, quick fix sayings. These “secrets”, if practiced regularly and consistently, will get your results.

Whether you are trying to grow a business or focused on building a strong family, faith, or career, use these eight principles every day. Not only will you see results, but you will find greater meaning, fulfillment, and purpose in everything you try to accomplish.

MICHAEL’S 8 SECRETS

Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life – Today it seems that people are prone to blame their failures on everything from their parents to the government. For the people who don’t buy into this mentality or succumb to the “victim” thinking, they tend to succeed at the things they want. To blame circumstances outside yourself is saying they have control of your life and not you. Yes, you may not have control over everything that happens to you, but you do control how you react to that situation. Don’t let someone else’s opinion of you become your reality is how to achieve success in life.

Live Your Life On Purpose – What separates these super achievers from the unsuccessful is that they live with Purpose. They believe they’re doing exactly what they were put here to do. There is a striking difference between living with Purpose and just living. The latter means just getting through the week with the least number of problems. When you live your life on Purpose, your main concern is doing the job right. An example is the entrepreneur who finds a cause they believe in and building your business around it.

Know Your There is A Pay A Price – Anything worthwhile has a price. That price might be paid in money, but more often it is paid with time, effort, sweat, and delayed gratification. When you are looking at how to achieve success in life, you must be willing to pay the price for your dreams. Wanting a bigger house, a new car, or a million-dollar net worth is great. Most people would say they want these things. Maybe your gig dream is more intangible. The same question must be asked — are you willing to pay the price to get them? This might be the number one difference between the successful and unsuccessful.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT FOCUS

Don’t Lose Sight Of Your Dream – Your day is likely filled with hundreds of tasks, phone calls, messages, and people demanding your time and attention. Staying focused on your priorities, the things that really matter, requires giving up something in the present. Remember you re investing your time in something that will pay off big-time down the road.

Jack Canfield and Mark Hanson had 30 publishers turn them down when they wanted to publish their “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book. Instead of giving up, they stayed focused on their goal to be published. They did four or five interviews per day for radio, TV, and newspapers, for five days a week for an entire year. Eventually, a small publisher decided to take a chance. Of course now it’s a best-seller. They went on and created a whole series of books, selling more than 10 million copies.

Become An Expert in YourField – Do you take your profession, your vocation, your Purpose seriously? Each of these highly successful gurus are very committed to what they do. They take there work very seriously. Being the best and constantly improving is their goal. Make a dedicated decision today to become the best in your field. How do you do that? Find out what the “best” in your field are doing . Then do that! That is how they how achieve success in life!

HAVE A GOAL, NOT A WISH

Make A Written Goal Plan – Document, mind map, checklist, plan, do whatever you need to do to have a written plan of action to achieve your goals. Not having a written plan to reach your goals is like driving from California to Tennessee without a map. Until your goal is written down, all you really have is a wish.

Practice Churchill’s Advice – Never, never, never surrender! Giving up can’t be an option for you. You are never fully committed until you make this decision. Be ready and willing do whatever it takes to achieve your dream. The power of perseverance is an strategic force. The old say, “inch by inch it’s a cinch” applies here. Never give up! Keep on going like the Eveready bunny..

Don’t Delay – Let’s face a truth that no one likes to talk about – We don’t live forever. You don’t know how much time you have left to accomplish your big dreams. The clock is ticking for all of us. At some point it stops ticking. As my old Navy boot camp instructor used to say, there is an expiration date on your birth certificate. I’m not trying to be morbid, just realistic.

The consistent achievers know this as well. The difference is that they don’t view it as a “negative”. Achievers use this knowledge as a motivator. They go after what they want. It is, in part, this sense of urgency that has taught them how to achieve success in life. They do it with energy and passion, for as long God has given them.

CASH, CHECK, OR IOU

A friend once said to me, “Today is a check – cash it! Yesterday is an I.O.U. – forget it! Tomorrow is a promissory note, don’t bank on it!”

Now that you know the eight secrets it is time for YOU to act. Time for you to go out there and cash that “today” check!